It's a question of lust, it's a question of trust

... it's a question of Swedish grammar.

A few years ago, I knew someone who came from Boden in Sweden, up near the arctic circle. At some point, they mentioned that "Boden" actually means "the shed", which I thought was kind of funny, so I remembered it. This person was also a fan of Depeche Mode, but that's not really important.

I recently came across the German word "boden" which I assumed also meant "the shed", though it turns out that it means "the ground". Anyway, I mentioned this to someone I currently know, who spent part of their childhood in Sweden, enough to have a pretty good grasp of Swedish, though not to native speaker levels. And when I said that "boden" means "the shed" in Swedish, they said "Um... no it doesn't."

So of course I consulted Google translate as to what "boden" means in Swedish, and it doesn't recognise it, though it does translate "bod" as "shed". I looked up "bod" in a dictionary and it said that it's a common gender noun, meaning stall or boutique or shed. So shouldn't "boden", or possibly "bodan", be the "the" form of it?

I read somewhere else that "bod" is archaic, so maybe it's just an old word that nobody would use in regular speech. That may explain all this, but languages are not my forté, so I am hoping that one of the native Swedes on this forum can give a definite answer to the question - what does "boden" mean in Swedish, and for bonus points, explain why Google Translate might understand "bod" but not "boden".

It is all of these things, and more, that keep us together.

 

Yes, it would be the definite form of "shed", as indicated by the -en suffix. Why Google Translate doesn't understand this, I don't know. Could be related to the somewhat arbitrary rules regulating the use of -en and -et suffixes ( e.g. "valen", meaning "the whale", and "valet", meaning "the election"), but it feels like a rather weak explanation.

 

This was kind of disappointing in the end. I was hoping for a dramatic tale full of Old Norse tidbits and linguistic twists and turns.

But thanks anyway. You're all my best friends.

 

Still remains a mystery why it's called "the Shed" in the first place. According to Wiki it refers to a typical kind of cottage found in the northern part, but it's a bit iffy.

 

Well if there was ever a better time for the posting of a sketch based on the plurality of sheds...

 

Yes, let's not dwell on what happens in sheds up in the north of Sweden.

 

Emphasis mine.